She inhales and lets it out. “Nervous.”

Nervous isn’t scared. That isn’t good enough. For just a few minutes, I need her to feel panic, to see what poison trust can deliver. I cup her backside with both hands, tightening my thighs around her thighs. “I’m going to spank you.”

“What? No. No, I—”

“Then I’ll fuck you.”

“No, Chad.”

“Yes, Gia. I’m going to step back and fully undress. If you move, I’ll spank you the second you do.”

“I’m going to move,” she assures me.

“Then I’m going to spank you. It’s your choice. I told you not to trust me.”

“So you’re going to prove I shouldn’t. Is that it?”

I ignore the question. “Have you ever been spanked?”

“No, I haven’t, and I don’t want to change that.”

“You might be surprised by how damn sexy and thrilling it is.”

“Say that when someone spanks you.”

Once again, I find myself smiling, which is pretty fucking amazing. I squeeze her cheeks. “I’m going to undress now, Gia. Remember my warning.”

I step away and shove my pants down, and the instant I do, she turns. I’m back on her before she escapes, turning her back to the wall, locking my legs around hers. “Chad—” she hisses, but I cut her off.

“Don’t object, or fight it,” I say, cupping her backside and massaging it, warming her skin for what’s to come. “It’ll only make it worse.”

“Chad,” she pleads.

“What are you thinking right now?”

“That you’re an asshole.”

“What else?”

“That you’re naked, and I don’t know why I’m aroused and still want you, when you’re such an asshole.”

My lips quirk. “What else?”

“I can’t think. I can’t think!”

“That’s what this is all about. It’s the escape. There’s nothing else but you and me and here and now. And you know what I’m thinking? About fucking you. About being inside you and feeling how hot and wet and tight you are. Nothing else. But first I’m going to spank you.”

“I . . . but is it going to hurt?”

“A tiny sting.” I lean in and nuzzle her neck. “This is just about you and me and pleasure. I’m not going to hurt you. Okay?”

“Yes,” she whispers. “Yes, okay.”

I move to her side, viewing her profile, my cock resting at her hip and belly, one leg in front of her, the other in the back. Her bound wrists rest in front of her chest and I don’t move them, to give her the leverage of the wall when I spank her. One of my hands flattens on her belly, the other goes to her head, forcing her to look at me. “Now is the time you need to trust me.”

“Ironic, now that I really don’t have a choice, do I?”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I repeat, sealing the promise with a brush of lips against lips, my tongue caressing past her teeth, licking into her mouth in a gentle seduction meant to echo my words, meant to calm her nerves and excite her arousal, to erase her fear. “You even taste stubborn,” I murmur, sliding my fingers between her legs, lightly teasing her clit. “Don’t trust. That’s the rule you need to learn. No more. No one. Ever. The one time I did, I ended up tied to a chair.”

“I can’t live that way.”

“You don’t have a choice.” I squeeze her backside, then command, “Don’t trust anyone.” Not giving her time to argue, I slide my fingers between her legs, into the slick heat of her body. She gasps and then moans. “You’re wet,” I observe, desire thickening my blood right along with my cock. “You’re about to be wetter.”

“What does that mean?”

I dip my fingers lower, deeper, distracting her and intentionally shocking her. I slap her backside, not hard, not even close to what I would do in an erotic game, but it’s a message. It’s about possibilities, about open doors she can never shut again, and I don’t stop at one. I repeat the action. Another smack, and another, until I reach five. When I’m done, she is panting, and my fingers take over, stroking her, teasing her until she shatters for me, her body quaking with the impact.

I bring her down, waiting until she slumps slightly, moving between her and the wall, fitting my cock between her thighs, and laying her on top of me. She buries her face in my shoulder and I press my hands to the side of her face, tilting her face forward. Her cheeks are flushed, but it’s her glassy eyes that do me in, that make my intentions waver. “Tell me I didn’t hurt you.”

“No. No, it wasn’t pain. It was . . . I was helpless . . . vulnerable and . . .” Her voice trails off, the red in her cheeks darkening.

“And what?” I press.

“Exposed, and yet aroused. I was turned on, and I don’t even understand why.”

“Because it’s sexy, baby. You have no idea how much I want to be inside you right now, but you need to understand the message I was sending you. I wouldn’t do anything but please you, but someone else might not be so nice. You can’t take risks, no matter what the circumstances are. Don’t trust.”

“Does that still include you?”

“Yes. I’m toxic, Gia. I will bleed poison into your life. I’m going to get you to safety, but then I’m gone.”